At Second Glance
by uselessfork
Summary: Sakura opens her door one morning to find an injured Kakashi staring back at her. After taking him in and healing him, she realises that this is not her Kakashi-sensei, but his younger self, traveling from the past. Inappropriate flirting ensues, and Sakura realises that there's more to her sensei than she ever thought. KakaSaku. Rated M for lemons (sex scenes) and violence themes.
1. The Second Hatake

**A/N: The original idea for this story was taken from a ****head canon by tumblr user shikasakura, with their written permission. **

**This will be about a 25, 000 word story once it's finished. If you liked it, please let me know! Reviews are so appreciated, especially if it's to help me further develop a character or to point out a mistake I made. Thank you guys for continuing to read my stories, it means a lot. xx**

* * *

Sakura tipped her head back under the warm jet of the shower, massaging the foamy shampoo from her locks. The water soothed her sore muscles, which were aching still from yesterday's mission. As she moved on to condition her hair, she hummed to herself absentmindedly, already planning her day off. It wasn't often that she got a reprieve from the constant work, especially as the Hokage's apprentice. For her, long, political-based missions were becoming more of the norm; while she didn't mind the journeys so much, the regular ambushes and assassination attempts on her life were a little tiring. That's just what you got for being so close to the Fifth Hokage, she'd soon realised. Most of the time it was unavoidable.

When the last of the conditioner had been washed from her hair, she turned off the shower, standing still for a moment as steam rose up around her. She wrapped a towel around her torso, taking a moment to brush her wet hair and dry it as best she could before leaving the bathroom. She continued to hum to herself as she went about getting dressed, pulling on a red civilian dress which she usually didn't get a chance to wear.

As she stood in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil, she heard a scratching at her door. Her senses were on high alert immediately. She edged silently down the hall towards the front door, pulling a kunai from her mug cupboard as she went. The scratching at the door grew louder. It sounded as if... someone was trying to unlock it.

Sakura frowned as she closed her hand around the doorknob. In one swift movement, she pulled the door open, kunai held at the ready.

At the sight of her sensei, she jumped backwards in surprise, automatically dropping the kunai. He looked just as surprised as she was.

"Kakashi-sensei." she blurted out by way of greeting. "What are you doing?"

He stood warily by her door, holding a small key. As her eyes flickered over it, he tucked it quickly into a pocket of his pants, ignoring her question.

He looked... different, though she couldn't put her finger on what it was. He was wearing ANBU gear, and his hair seemed shorter than usual. That wasn't the most strange thing, however. Though he'd gotten back from the same mission as her yesterday, unscathed as far as she knew, he stood before her now bleeding profusely from a cut above his visible eye.

The medic in Sakura snapped quickly to attention, and she pulled him inside without hesitation.

"What have you done to yourself?" she asked, closing the door behind him. He merely stared at her as she began to tug him down the hallway, into the main room. He shrugged away from her hand on his upper arm, backing up defensively. They stared at one another for a long moment, both in total bewilderment. There was no recognition in his visible eye.

"Kakashi-sensei...?" Sakura queried, raising one pink brow.

"What are you doing in my apartment?" He asked finally, his voice edged with wariness. She paused and sighed as understanding filled her eyes.

"You've gone and given yourself a concussion, no doubt." she mused, mostly to herself. "Honestly, we've only been home one day and already you're bleeding all over my apartment."

Without waiting for an answer from him, she grabbed him firmly by the wrist and pulled him over to the kitchen sink. She rummaged around in a draw for a moment before finding her medical kit.

"I'm just going to sanitize the cut before I heal it up." she murmured, pouring a generous amount of disinfectant over a white cloth. She glanced back up at Kakashi, who was head and shoulders taller than her, and gestured for him to sit on the couch in the middle of the room. He didn't budge an inch. His uncovered eye was scanning the room rapidly, almost frantically, taking in every detail of her apartment. He looked as if he was ready to bolt at any moment. _Definitely concussed,_ Sakura decided, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. He didn't seem as if he was going to sit down of his own accord any time soon, so she pulled him over to the couch herself, and pushed him to sit down. He at least complied to that, seeming to decide that she wasn't about to try to kill him.

"Now, stay still." she instructed, her voice taking on the tone she often adopted in the hospital - calming and professional, so as not to scare any disorientated shinobi.

With steady, deft hands, she cleaned his cut, noting with a sigh of relief that it was shallower than it had appeared at first. Once it had been disinfected, she summoned the green medical chakra to her hand with ease, hovering over the cut on his forehead as she healed it back together. At the sight of her green chakra, Kakashi grew very still.

"Okay." she began, satisfied that the cut was healed up. "I think you have a concussion, so I'm going to have to examine your head. Please try not to move around."

She moved both her hands to his temples, using medical chakra to probe for injury. She couldn't feel any evidence of concussion - but something definitely felt off with Kakashi's brain. She had treated him for head injuries before, and had always felt the same warm flutter as her chakra probed his chakra system. Today, his chakra felt _defensive,_ as if he didn't welcome the intrusion of hers into his head. Not to mention the strange ANBU gear he was wearing. She frowned, sending her chakra deeper into his brain tissue to find the source of the disruption.

Without any warning, he grabbed her wrists, hard, leaping up off the couch and pushing her back. Frozen momentarily with surprise, she tumbled to the floor, landing on her hip. She quickly regained her footing, however, scrambling up in the nick of time. Tsunade's apprentice was nothing if not adaptable.

"Kakashi- what-" she began, attempting to get through to him. He didn't reply, instead racing towards her to deliver another blow. She barely dodged in time and stepped back towards the kitchen, trying to edge to one of the spots where she'd hidden her kunai. He advanced slowly towards her, seeming to think he had her trapped now that she had backed into her kitchen.

From the front door came a sharp, pounding knock. Both Sakura and Kakashi froze. There was a long moment of silence before the knock came again, louder this time.

"Sakura!" called a voice, edged with alarm. Her eyes widened. _Wasn't that...?_

"Ka...kashi-sensei?" she forced out, eyes still on the Kakashi standing before her. He looked similarly alarmed, his eyes wide and posture defensive.

"Who are you?" Sakura whispered, trying to edge towards the front door, where she could hear her real sensei calling her name. The fake Kakashi before her simply stared. He didn't move a muscle as she backed down the hallway and reached the front door, her eyes on him the whole time. With increasing trepidation, she reached behind her and squeezed the door handle, seeking reassurance in the familiar feel of the metal. She opened it slowly, letting Kakashi step in behind her. She backed up against the wall to allow him to enter the apartment; she felt him tense as he took in the sight of - well, _himself._

For several seconds, no one spoke. The three nin stared at each other, two silver haired, one pink. Eventually, it was the fake Kakashi who broke the silence.

"What the fuck," he began, "is going on?"

She barely registered the flicker of motion as her sensei darted forward and knocked the impostor out cold. His face was unreadable, but she could tell he was unnerved. If she was honest, the encounter had left her a little shaky, too. What kind of a ninja could replicate not only appearance and the sound of someone's voice, but also their chakra signature? Whoever the impostor was, they had to assume they were dangerous.

Kakashi promptly proceeded to tie the man up with his own chakra strings and sling him over his shoulder.

"We're going to the Hokage's office." he instructed, already leading her out of her apartment. Sakura quickly pulled on her favourite boots and locked the door behind her, following Kakashi outside. They headed towards Tsunade's office across the roofs to avoid civilians, who would probably raise a few brows at the sight of two of the village's most renowned ninja carrying a body through town.

"Are you hurt?" Kakashi asked evenly as they neared the building. Sakura shook her head. "He didn't get much of a hit on me." she replied, forcing nonchalance. "It's a good thing you got there when you did, though. What were you doing at my door in the first place?"

Kakashi shrugged, shifting the man on his shoulder to redistribute the weight.

"I was going to ask you if you'd mind writing up the report for the last mission, but when I got there I could sense a fight. Ah well, it doesn't matter now."

Sakura decided to ignore the fact that he had been planning to dump his paperwork on her, focussing instead on swinging herself down from the roof and onto the ledge outside the Hokage's window. She tapped on the glass politely, thanking a perplexed-looking Shizune as she opened the window for them.

_So much for my day off,_ she grumbled internally.

As they stepped into the familiar settings of Tsunade's office, Kakashi slung his passenger down onto the floor none-too-gently, stepping back to face Tsunade. Sakura was a little more tactful.

"We're sorry to interrupt, Tsunade-sama." she apologised quickly, shooting Kakashi a stern look of disapproval for his lack of manners. "We thought it would be important to report in straight away."

Tsunade steepled her hands and leaned forward slightly over the desk, inadvertently exposing most of her cleavage. Sakura suppressed a snicker at Kakashi's pointedly uncomfortable expression.

"Yes, I did gather that when you climbed through my window carrying a body." she replied blithely. "What's the story?"

Kakashi looked to Sakura for her to explain. She frowned, considering the man lying unconscious on the floor between them.

"This man tried to break into my apartment this morning," she began. "Though he did seem to be acting a little differently than usual, I believed it was Kakashi-sensei coming to see me to heal up a cut on his head. I assumed that he also had a concussion, as he was saying something about me being in his apartment. When I tried to treat the head injury he attacked me."  
Tsunade's face hardened as she mentioned that detail.

"Kakashi-sensei then knocked on my door after sensing our fight. I let him in and he incapacitated the attacker. We brought him straight here."

Sakura glanced at Kakashi for confirmation that she'd remembered all the details. He was staring, wide-eyed at the man on the ground. Tsunade took in his confusion.

"What is it?" she asked. He frowned.

"It's interesting that he knew that I used to live in your apartment." he muttered.

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You used to live in my apartment?" she asked. He nodded, not really paying attention to her.

Their exchange was cut short by a small groan from the man on the floor. The four nin in the room immediately reacted. Kakashi crouched down beside the man, pressing a hastily procured kunai to his covered throat. Shizune and Sakura both moved to stand either side of their Hokage.

It soon became evident, however, that the man was not going to be getting up any time soon. As he blinked his visible eye open, staring around the room warily, Sakura noted the angry, dark bruise which was already blossoming on his temple. If he didn't have a concussion before, he probably would have now.

"Where's the Sandaime?" he asked abruptly.

Sakura blinked quickly in surprise.

"Don't play with us." Tsunade said firmly, making her way around the desk to stand over him. "And get rid of that ridiculous henge. We have enough Hatake on our hands as is."

The man simply stared up at her in frustrated confusion. Sakura couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

"You heard the Hokage." Kakashi growled from where he was crouched beside him. "I don't particularly like having a copy of me walking around either. It's impressive that you managed to copy my chakra signature, though. Care to explain that one?"

At that moment, her sensei looked truly frightening. She'd seen him kill men in battle before, seen him send other shinobi screaming for their lives. Never in her life had he sounded more nonchalantly dangerous than right now, however. _I guess he really doesn't like being impersonated,_ she mused, tucking the thought away to ask him about later.

"I'm not a _copy_ of anyone, idiot." the impostor growled in reply, seemingly unintimidated by Kakashi-sensei's spiel. "Untie me. If this is another one of Danzo-sama's training exercises, you can just tell him I failed."

At the mention of Danzo, Kakashi's eye widened. He pulled up his hitai-ate in one deft movement to uncover his spinning sharingan.

The three kunoichi watched silently as he trained it on the other man, before reaching out and yanking up the impostor's hitai-ate as well.

At the sight of an identical sharingan spinning wildly in the impostor's eye socket, Kakashi recoiled as if he'd been burned.

"You can't replicate a sharingan." he explained unnecessarily, avoiding the stares of the Hokage and her apprentices.

Tsunade leant down and picked up the impostor by his shirt in one fluid motion.

"Who are you?" she asked. She sounded slightly unnerved.

"Hatake Kakashi." he replied shortly. "Who are _you?_ And where's the Sandaime Hokage?"

Sakura and Shizune gaped at the man's rudeness. Tsunade was not known for her calm temperament, and he was already pushing the limits of her patience - they could tell by the tense set of her shoulders that she'd be either yelling or asking for a drink any moment now.

Tsunade drew herself up to her full height, a fierceness entering her eyes.

"I'm Senju Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. The Third is dead." she stated bluntly in reply to his question.

"D-_dead?!_" The man stared at Tsunade in horror. _If he's acting, _Tsunade noted internally, _he's doing a damn good job._

"Yes, dead." she replied, keeping her face impassive. "Are you a little more willing to answer my questions now?"

"But he can't be dead." the man interrupted. "I was with him just an hour ago."

At that, Tsunade grew very still. She seemed to consider something for a moment, a thoughtful expression flashing across her face.

"Hatake." she murmured, glancing at Kakashi. "How would I be able to tell if this was actually you?"

Kakashi frowned.

"You don't mean to say that you believe this story?" he asked, voice hard. Tsunade shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened in Konoha." she replied, gesturing to the man she was still holding by the collar. "He definitely thinks he's telling the truth."

Kakashi considered the man for a long moment.

"He definitely has my chakra signature." he admitted finally, eyes narrowed. "He looks exactly like I did when I was in ANBU. That was years ago, though."

Tsunade's eyes were filled with the strange light which she only got when she was thinking very hard about something. She lowered the man back to his feet a little more gently, and cast her gaze over him once more.

"Hatake, ask him something only you would know the answer to." she ordered briskly. Kakashi hesitated. Eventually he sighed in defeat.

"Why do you wear the mask?" he asked finally. Sakura held her breath as she waited for the man's answer. Honestly, the mask was something she'd wondered about ever since she'd met her sensei.

"Fuck off." the other man growled, glaring at Kakashi. Sakura stifled a gasp, waiting for the inevitable fight. It didn't come.

"Yep, that's me." Kakashi voiced sourly, stepping back from the captive man. Tsunade nodded, moving quickly to break the chakra strings which he was still bound with. The moment he was released, the stranger Kakashi bounded away from the four of them, moving to stand on the opposite side of the room. Tsunade seemed to accept the transgression, walking back round her desk to sit in the chair once more. _At least he's not running away,_ she thought with some relief as she sank back into her chair. _If my theory is correct, having him on the loose could fuck a lot of shit up._

"What year do you think it is?" she asked casually, turning to the stranger Kakashi. He avoided her gaze sullenly before replying. The members of her office raised their brows collectively as he named the date... this time nine years ago.

"Well, that answers my question." Tsunade sighed. "Welcome to the future, Hatake. Care to explain how you got here?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to glower at the four nin standing before him. It was bad enough that he'd somehow ended up in the freaking _future_, if what they were saying was true (and to be honest, he hadn't come up with a better explanation himself); what was worse was that an older version of himself was standing before him, glaring at him as if he was scum. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't been able to land a hit on the pink-haired girl standing before him, even though he'd caught her off guard. It didn't help that she was undeniably attractive - now all he could think about was the fact that she must be entirely unimpressed with him. Besides, if he couldn't even beat up a medical kunoichi, what the hell was he good for?

It was definitely not shaping up to be a good day so far. The pretty girl who'd escorted him here was certainly a positive aspect, but the way she was staring at him, you'd think he'd grown an extra head.

"I have no idea." he replied tonelessly, running a hand absently through his hair. Sakura's eyes tracked the movement - it was a nervous habit which Kakashi-sensei often reverted to when he was stressed. To be totally honest, the whole time travel thing was really freaking her out. He continued in the same impassive voice, but his posture indicated he wasn't as relaxed as he'd like to have them believe.

"I was sent on a top secret mission by the Third to investigate a chakra disturbance outside the village borders. I remember reaching a cave, and seeing a purple light, coming from within, and then I woke up in a training field. I went straight back to my apartment to get some medical supplies."

His voice took on a strange, almost flirtatious edge as he continued. "As pleasant as it was to be greeted by a beautiful girl at my doorstep, I was a little concerned as to why she was in my apartment." He turned to Sakura. "My apologies for trying to kill you, by the way."

To her credit, the little kunoichi seemed to take the apology well, a hint of blush reaching her cheeks.

"I probably would have done the same." she admitted with a tiny smile. And that smile... wow. Kakashi didn't know this woman at all, but he already knew he'd move mountains for that smile. He felt the beginnings of a grin enter his own eyes, delighting in the blush which was deepening in her cheeks.

"Ahem." His older self interrupted their exchange with an embarrassed cough, bringing his attention back to the Hokage.

"Ah... yes. Right. Well, that's all I remember. Next thing I know I'm waking up in the Hokage's office to find out that my current Hokage is dead. Pretty standard mission, really."

Kakashi-sensei groaned inwardly at his younger self's blatant sarcasm. _I didn't think I'd ever have to see this version of myself again,_ he thought sulkily.

Sakura, however, seemed to think it was slightly amusing. His eyes flashed to her face as she fought to suppress a smile.

Tsunade sighed, massaging her temple with one hand.

"Well, it seems like an accident that you were sent to this time." she stated, the shadow of a frown crossing her face. "I'm sure that once the Third realises you're missing, he'll send a team to investigate. The best we can do at the moment is find out as much as we can for ourselves."

Sakura nodded. From what the younger Kakashi had said, he'd simply been caught in the crossfire of some kind of time travel experiment. The Hokage would probably assign someone to search through the books and scrolls in the library for any mention of the incident in the past. Those were the only logical steps they could take at the moment. She didn't envy the poor nin who would get stuck with the task, however.

"Sakura, I'll leave you in charge of the research? And you'll look after him today? Excellent." Tsunade beamed before Sakura could even begin to form a protest. She felt her face fall.

"Why me?" she complained with a pout.

_Christ, she looks cute when she pouts,_ Kakashi mused, not bothering to listen to the conversation.

"Because Hatake- _our_ Hatake," she clarified with a frown, "has a mission of his own as of one hour from now. _I'm_ certainly not going to babysit our little time traveller all day. And as the Hokage's apprentice, I know I can trust you with important, sensitive information such as this. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this information is fully classified."

Sakura raised one eyebrow impressively, but didn't protest any further.

"Fine." she agreed, turning to grab the younger Kakashi by his upper arm. He seemed far less jumpy than he had only an hour ago, and willingly let her pull him from the office. At the door, Sakura turned to bow to the other three, letting go of Kakashi's arm. He took the opportunity to blatantly check out her ass, a move which was not missed by the older Hatake.

"Watch it." he warned his younger self lowly, shooting him a baleful glare. "I know what you're- what I- what we're like. She's a student." He looked pointedly at Sakura, who flickered her gaze between the two Hatakes in confusion.

The younger rolled his eyes.

"When did I become so boring?" he muttered darkly, turning to take his leave with Sakura. He and the girl left before Kakashi-sensei could reply.

There was a long moment of awkward silence as they closed the door behind them. It was broken by an amused snicker from Tsunade.

"Wow, Kakashi," she teased, smirking at him. "Looks like you were quite the ladies man a few years ago." She broke into laughter then, unable to suppress it at the murderous look in Kakashi's eyes.

"I was a brat." he muttered in perfect imitation of his younger self. Tsunade fell into hysterics at that point, laughing till a tear rolled from her eye. Shizune looked mildly concerned for her master's sanity, but held her tongue.

When Tsunade's snickers finally faded out, she handed him a mission file detailing an exchange of encrypted information scrolls with Suna. He accepted the mission without comment, turning towards the door.

"Oh, Kakashi." Tsunade called as he swung it open. "Little Hatake won't get into any trouble, will he?" She posed the question nonchalantly, but he could tell she was truly considering his answer. He shook his head with a sigh.

"Honestly, I wouldn't put it past myself." he admitted ruefully. He was glad when he could finally leave the office.

* * *

"So you don't remember anything else?" Sakura asked, glancing up at the man as they walked. He'd adopted a henge as they strolled through the village, and he currently looked like he had black hair and civilian clothes on. She couldn't help but admire his attention to detail - he'd even changed the appearance of his shoes. He shook his head.

"All I remember is waking up in one of the training grounds after that."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully, her mind already running through a list of any possible jutsu that could even come close to transporting a person through time. So far it was a very short list. She sighed, steering Kakashi around a corner towards the Torture and Interrogations building. She felt him stiffen beside her as he realised their destination. To put him at ease, she shot him a reassuring smile.

"Relax." she said, pulling him back into stride with her. "This is where they recently moved the high-clearance records room to. If there's any mention of what happened to you from the past, we'll find it there."

Kakashi visibly relaxed, and gave a short nod before following her through a side door and into the inconspicuous looking building. A Yamanaka man looked up, startled, as she sailed through the door, but waved her on when he recognised her. He spared a quizzical glance for Kakashi, but she ignored him. She could often be found poring through some stack of records or another for Tsunade, and had become a bit of a regular fixture in the building.

Sakura strode down the long hallway towards room B, seemingly unaware that both Kakashi and the Yamanaka were staring at the sway of her hips as she walked. She couldn't keep a tiny, amused smile off her lips as she realised what they were doing, but she didn't comment. _Let them think I'm oblivious,_ she smirked to herself.

They spent hours sifting through old mission files - or, more accurately, she did. Kakashi spent the time half heartedly flicking through some of the cases she tossed at him, and attempting to flirt with her. She couldn't help but laugh at some of his innuendos, though she had the feeling his older self wouldn't take too kindly to the knowledge. He really had changed a lot in between this time and the time she'd met him. He wasn't as polite and mild-mannered as the sensei she knew, nor did he seem to care that she would be his student in his future. There was something else though, a vaguely haunted look in this man which she hadn't seen for a long time in her sensei. She pretended not to notice when she caught him looking through a case file on his genin team, becoming suddenly very interested in a file detailing an incident in the Akimichi clan several years back.

The problem with finding the right file was that it had been an 'off the books' mission given personally by the Sandaime. Without any official paperwork detailing the events, they had to trawl through masses of mission files, searching for the one which would be a cover for Kakashi's mission. At first, she'd restricted their search to anything containing the words 'time travel'. When that search turned up approximately zero results, she'd expanded their search to include any mission from that year which had been flagged as 'details unresolved' in the data bank. Unfortunately, that meant that they had a giant mound of paperwork to cover, and only two people to do it. They made a small dent in the files that day, stopping only once for a food break, at which point Kakashi had to henge back into the civilian persona he'd created as they left the building.

By the time she called the session to an end for the day, her mind was exhausted. She was no stranger to paperwork, but even for her that had been a heavy session.

It was with a sigh of relief that they left the Torture and Investigation building that night. The sky was already dark and the streets were filling up with Konoha's bustling nightlife. As they stopped for some food at a street vendor, accepting the rice balls gratefully, Sakura realised she didn't know where Kakashi was supposed to stay that night. She hadn't even thought to ask the Hokage - would she keep him confined?

"Um, I just realised, we need a place for you to sleep." Sakura said abruptly, pulling them to a halt. "We should check with the Hokage."

Kakashi seemed to realise the problem too, and nodded, following the kunoichi as they turned in the opposite direction, back towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Tsunade was less than impressed to see them again.

"Did you bring sake?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. Sakura sighed.

"Tsunade-sama, you know that Shizune has forbidden you to drink while in the office." she scolded lightly, casting an affectionate look at her shishou. Tsunade pouted, slumping forward in her seat in a display of mock hurt. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, shishou, we were wondering where Kakashi-sensei- ah, Kakashi, will be sleeping tonight. I believe there's a free holding cell in the-"

Kakashi stared at her, aghast. Even Tsunade looked mildly surprised at her apprentice's suggestion. Sakura stopped talking at the sight of their expressions, confused.

"What?" she asked defensively. Tsunade rolled her eyes and sat up straighter in her chair.

"We have no reason to believe that Hatake is dangerous. Well, aside from the obvious, of course. But I doubt we need to _lock him up._" she admonished wearily, casting a longing glance at the streets outside. She considered for a moment.

"You can look after him." she announced triumphantly, suppressing the urge to snicker at the expression on Sakura's face. "Find him a place to sleep at your apartment. I know from experience that the couch is pretty comfy."

Kakashi gaped at the exchange. For the first time, he considered the possibility that these women may not be all that stable.


	2. The Little Kunoichi

**A/N: Hey lovelies! Just a warning that this chapter does have a bit of a lemon/sex scene at the end, though it's nothing too extreme. I would really appreciate any reviews, it really helps me to keep the story on track. Hope you like it!**

Sakura sulked all the way home. Several times, Kakashi considered offering to stay somewhere else for the night, but eventually he decided that since he'd lived in that apartment first, _he had dibs_. He also decided that that was a perfectly adult expression to use, and he was not being childish at all.

She broke the silence first, as they made their way up the steps of the apartment block. She sighed.

"I'll set up a bed for you on the couch." she murmured tiredly. "And by the way, if you snore again tonight, I won't hesitate to smother you with a pillow. I've been on enough missions where you've kept me awake all night."

_Ah,_ Kakashi realised, _that's why she doesn't want me sleeping in her apartment. Funny, I didn't realise I snored._ With that thought came the depressing realisation that having never had a serious relationship, he'd never had anyone to tell him he snored.

"Disappointing that I've only ever kept you up all night with my snoring, though." he murmured innocently. There was a pause as Sakura realised what he'd said, and smacked him on the arm. With the smack came a reluctant smile, however. She knew his innuendos were entirely inappropriate, but that failed to make them less funny.

"Hey, you stay on your side of the room tonight, Hatake." she mock scolded.

"What about tomorrow night?" he asked hopefully, admiring the curves of her waist as she turned away from him to unlock the door. She laughed quietly.

"Yeah, right. I'm sure you'll have won me over by tomorrow night." she joked, pushing the front door open and stepping into the darkness. He followed suite, closing it behind him.

"I'll do my best." he assured her.

She gave him several blankets, though it was a warm night, and settled herself into bed. She was out like a light as soon as her head touched the pillow.

_Tsunade was right,_ he noted idly, shifting to lie on his side. _The couch is pretty comfortable._

Sakura had clearly renovated the apartment since she'd moved in; where he'd used to have doors and walls, she'd removed them, turning the apartment into one large room. Only the bathroom still had a door. This meant that in his admittedly sleepy state, he could hear the kunoichi's quiet breathing from where she slept across the room. Since he'd first lay down his eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he could faintly make out the outline of her, curled up into a little ball on her single bed.

At first, he'd kept himself awake out of courtesy to her - the last thing he wanted was another scolding for the snoring which he hadn't even realised he did. Besides, she looked tired. He wasn't entirely sure why that bothered him, but it did. As she'd drifted off to sleep, however, he'd found himself studying the peaceful expression on her face, the curve of her cheekbones, the way her lips were slightly parted in her sleep. He eventually fell to sleep with the thought that though she had crushed every one of his preconceptions of her that day - though she had proven herself to be intelligent, fast, and even scary as hell when she wanted to be - she still looked like a sweet girl when she slept. It was unnerving, but he didn't have time to dwell on it; sleep claimed him as suddenly as it had claimed her.

* * *

He hadn't been out for long when a sound woke him with a jolt. He leapt out of his makeshift bed and into a defensive crouch before he'd even fully awoken. In the darkness, all was silent. His sharingan reacted to the adrenaline coursing through him, activating so that he could see in the dark as clearly as if the room was flooded with daylight. After scanning the room for threats, and finding none, he instinctively glanced over at Sakura's bed. She was still asleep, but no longer did she look peaceful. Her eyebrows were drawn into a frown as she sighed sadly. He stared at her for a moment longer. Just as he was about to climb back into bed and dismiss the noise as his own paranoia, she stirred.

"Sasuke..." she sighed. She sounded heartbroken. He hesitated, caught between going over to wake her, and letting her sleep. In the end he simply laid back down and closed his eyes. Whoever this Sasuke was was none of his business, he decided.

Sleep took a little longer to claim him this time round.

* * *

"Morning." Kakashi yawned, stretching as he walked into the area of her apartment which served as a kitchen. She had her back to him as he drew near, but at the sound of his voice she turned around and gave him a radiant smile. He was momentarily caught off guard by how different she looked in her shinobi gear, the short pink skirt and red shirt which hugged her figure tightly, accentuating the curves of her body. He raised his eyebrows.

"Are we doing field work today?" he asked, nodding towards her new outfit. She laughed softly, reaching up to tug her hair into a ponytail.

"No, I don't have any field work today." she replied, pulling her hair through the final loop of the hair tie. "I prefer to work in mission clothes, even if we are mainly sorting through files." She shrugged, surveying his day-old clothes. "I think I have some of Kakashi-sen some of your clothes lying around. Hang on, I'll find them."

"I thought you said we didn't have that type of relationship." he teased, following her across the room to where she was rooting around in a drawer. She rolled her eyes and handed him a clean pair of pants and a standard issue jounin shirt. _Even my clothes are boring,_ he mused.

"We don't." she replied, with a laugh. "You're my _teacher_. Well, you will be, anyway."

He smirked.

"I must have incredible self control in the future." he deadpanned. She rolled her eyes again.

He showered and dressed quickly, and opened the bathroom door to find her waiting for him.

"We have to get going." she said, making her way to the door. He followed after her.

The streets were quieter than they had been the night before, without the shouting of the street vendors and crowds of tipsy people - civilians and shinobi alike. It wasn't until they were halfway to the Hokage's office that Kakashi realised he hadn't used a henge that morning.

"Does it matter that I'm not disguised?" he asked Sakura lowly. She surveyed him for a moment.

"No, you look just like Kakashi-sensei does now." she replied calmly, quickening their pace. "Besides, he's out on a mission, so there's no risk of anyone seeing the two of you together." she gave him a reassuring smile.

"So you're a medical kunoichi?" he asked casually, sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked. She nodded.

"I've been training under Tsunade-sama since I was thirteen. So about four years now." she replied. "Although I've also been trained in close range combat."

"Ah." he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "That explains how you were able to avoid getting hit when we met." She grinned.

"I've dodged too many of Tsunade's punches to still be slow on my feet. Training with the Fifth does crazy things for your survival instincts, believe me." Suddenly, Kakashi was more than a little relieved that he hadn't tried to fight back when he'd first woken up in the Hokage's office.

They walked for a minute longer in comfortable silence.

"Who's Sasuke?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly as they turned the corner to Hokage street. Her head jerked up in surprise and she turned to stare at him, eyes wide. He immediately regretted asking.

"What do you know about Sasuke?" she asked, all trace of humour gone from her voice. He resisted the urge to grimace. Clearly, this was a touchy subject. He shrugged.

"Oh, nothing." he replied, feigning nonchalance. "I just heard you say his name in your sleep, is all." She looked down, silent for a moment.

"He is - was, a precious friend." she murmured, eyes downcast. "He left the village and later tried to kill me. He's officially an S-rank missing nin now."

She didn't say any more on the topic, and Kakashi didn't ask. They completed the rest of the walk to the Hokage tower in silence.

"Morning, Sakura-chan, Hatake." Tsunade yawned as they entered the office, shifting a stack of papers on her desk so as to allow a better view. Sakura quickly bowed, grabbing Kakashi's upper arm to pull him into a respectful bow as well. Tsunade looked highly amused.

"Good morning, shishou." Sakura smiled, dropping her respectful stance and moving over to sit opposite her Hokage across the desk. Kakashi lingered by the door after closing it behind them. Both women ignored him for the moment.

"Sakura, I need that mission report today." Tsunade reminded the younger kunoichi with a sigh. Sakura frowned.

"I thought it was Kakashi-sensei's turn to write up the report." she complained, shooting a baleful glare over her shoulder at the man behind her. Kakashi shrugged.

"It's not my fault yet." he reminded her. She sighed.

"Okay." she agreed. "I'll write the report. Kakashi-sensei has to fill out the next two though." Tsunade nodded.

"Seems fair." she agreed, already moving onto her next order of business. "I'm putting you two on research again today - I want to know how I ended up with two Hatake brats in my office instead of one. Find me some answers, you two. I'll take you off of field duty until we know how to get Kakashi back to his own time."

"Understood, shishou."

"Excellent. Now get out of my office."

"She's really... scary." Kakashi admitted as they made their way back out of the building, turning to walk in the direction of the Torture and Interrogation building. Sakura laughed. He was pleased to note that she didn't seem to be as upset as she had been before. Actually, the meeting with the Hokage seemed to have brightened her demeanor a lot.

"She can be quite scary." she agreed, tucking a stray tendril of pink hair behind her ear. "She always means well, though. She practically raised me after my parents died, and Shizune too. Oh, Shizune is her... niece, I guess you would say. Though they're not related by blood."

Kakashi nodded. When the kunoichi talked about her shishou, her eyes lit up, and her speech lost its formal pattern. It was clear to anyone who looked that Sakura idolised the older woman.

* * *

The Torture and Investigation building was as silent and uninviting as always. Sakura smiled once more at the Yamanaka man as they strode past the workers' station and towards the classified files room they'd been sifting through the previous day. The poor Yamanaka blushed noticeably as she greeted him, and stuttered out a greeting of his own. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, giving the man a little wave. Sakura rolled her eyes at the exchange between the two men.

"Idiots." she muttered fondly, pushing Kakashi forcibly into the filing room. He almost tripped over, unused to the massive strength he hadn't realised she possessed. He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her as he righted himself. She shrugged.

"Close combat specialist." she said by way of explanation. He stared at her. From the moment he'd met this kunoichi, she hadn't stopped surprising him.

They settled down on the ground and began to search through the files from where they'd left off the previous day. The hours dragged by with only Kakashi's occasional inappropriate comments to break the silence. Though Sakura had found countless instances of missions with an unresolved aspect in her searches, it was not until late afternoon that she finally found the file she was looking for.

"Finally." she breathed, shifting slightly on the stone floor. Kakashi looked up from the case he was reading (an admittedly hilarious rescue mission gone wrong) at the sound of her relieved exhale, and turned his attention to her. She grinned.

"Found it." she announced proudly, scanning the page. "We'd better take this straight to the Hokage."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, his interest piqued. Sakura closed the file and sprung to her feet, wincing at the stiffness in her muscles from sitting still for so long. She offered him a hand up, and hauled him to his feet as well. As she turned to pace towards the door, he gave a quiet chuckle. She turned to him with a quizzical expression on her face.

"What's funny?" she asked. He let his smile reach his eyes.

"You have dust on your ass." he announced, unable to hold back his laugh as she blushed. She quickly brushed it off before striding out the door, jerking her head for him to follow. They closed the door behind them and left the Torture and Interrogation building, Kakashi still snickering at the expression on her face, and Sakura rolling her eyes and muttering something about 'goddamned pervert hasn't changed in nine years'.

The 'goddamned pervert' who, according to Sakura, wouldn't change for another nine years, followed her to the Hokage's office without a complaint. At the sight of Sakura's stony expression, and Kakashi's amused one, Tsunade raised a delicate brow.

"Lover's quarrel?" she deadpanned. Sakura scowled.

"I found the file." she handed Tsunade the manilla folder, sparing a glower for Kakashi, who was blatantly staring at the back of her thighs again. Tsunade read the case report, biting her lip thoughtfully.

"I suppose we'll have to fill in the gaps for ourselves." she murmured, closing the file and placing it on her desk.

"It does leave a lot of questions." Sakura agreed. Tsunade looked to Kakashi with a frown.

"According to this file, you were found half naked and unconscious outside a cave in the forest, five days after you were first sent on an unknown mission by the Sandaime. You reported having no memory of any of the events of the five days prior to you being found, and when the cave was searched, it was completely empty. At least we know that you will get back somehow, though it's a completely confusing case."

Tsunade steepled her hands and leant her elbows on her desk with a frown.

"Sakura, what are you thinking?" she asked, noting the thoughtful expression on the kunoichi's face. Sakura hesitated before replying.

"Isn't it a strange coincidence that Kakashi came to a different year, but the month and day were the same? Is it too far of a leap to assume that his return will work along the same timeline... as in, three days from now?"

Tsunade nodded approvingly.

"It does seem most likely." she agreed. "Tomorrow, I want the two of you to investigate the cave. Hatake, do you think you could find the right spot again?" At Kakashi's affirmative nod, she continued. "Good. You can have the rest of the day off. Don't forget about that mission report, Sakura."

* * *

The two nin left the office in considerably higher spirits than when they'd entered. Kakashi's previous transgression seemingly forgotten, Sakura led the way home with a spring in her step.

"We're going out for dinner tonight." she announced cheerfully, all but bouncing up the steps to her apartment. "I rarely get a whole afternoon off, so I plan to make the most of it."

"Are you asking me out?" Kakashi asked hopefully. Sakura laughed.

"You haven't won me over yet, Hatake." she replied cheekily as she let them into the apartment. Kakashi huffed in mock frustration.

"You're the first woman to ever resist my blindingly good looks." he informed her solemnly.

"It doesn't help that I've never seen your blindingly good looks, what with that mask you're always wearing." she returned. He shrugged.

"I can take the rest of my clothes of if it would help." he offered. She smacked him fondly on the arm.

"You can keep your clothes on." she laughed. He looked genuinely disappointed for a moment. "Anyway," she continued, "I'm going to take a shower, so just make yourself at home."

* * *

She gave an appreciative sigh as she stood under the warm jet of the shower, washing the day's work from her body. Usually, her 'day's work' consisted of other peoples' blood and a fair amount of sweat, but today it was merely the dust of the filing room. As was often her habit in the shower, she found herself humming. When her shower was over, she brushed and dried her hair tugging at a rebelliously long strand. _I'll have to get Shizune to cut it again soon,_ she noted. She left the bathroom wrapped in a towel, which she secured around her body tightly.

Kakashi was sitting on the couch when she came out, reading one of her medical textbooks. Or rather, pretending to read, she realised, hiding a reluctant smile as she noticed him scanning her body in the towel. Honestly, the man was doing a terrible job of pretending not to look at her.

She rooted around in her set of drawers to find a clean bra and underwear, a black skirt and one of her favourite red, cotton shirts. It was tighter fitting and had a lower neckline than her standard mission top - one which she'd initially been forced to buy by Ino, but had grown to like.

"Close your eyes." she instructed as she dropped her towel to the floor and pulled on the clothes. Kakashi complied quickly. Once she'd finished zipping up her skirt, she let him open his eyes again.

"You look lovely." he said. She glanced up, surprised.

"Why, Hatake," she exclaimed in mock bewilderment. "I think you may have just given me a genuine compliment that didn't involve wanting to get into bed with me!"

"Hey, hey, I never said I didn't want to get into bed with you!" he backtracked quickly. "In fact, I'd love to get into bed with you. Why don't we do that right now?"

She laughed, shaking her head in resignation.

"That's more like it." she agreed. He flashed her a mischievous grin which she wouldn't have been able to make out if not for her years of reading Kakashi's expressions through his mask.

"Anyway, shall we go?" she asked brightly. "It's night time already, and I'm starving."

"Mm." Kakashi agreed, following her to the door. She pulled on her customary boots while Kakashi stepped back into his sandals.

"Shit, my wallet." she murmured, striding over to her bed to pull the purse from where she'd tossed it haphazardly the night before. "Okay, let's go."

She led the way through the streets, exulting in the familiarity of Konoha's commercial night life. Lanterns hung from wires above her head, casting a golden glow over the streets. She relaxed as they walked, letting her arm brush lightly against Kakashi's. The bar they stopped at was one of Sakura's favourites, a small, intimate place which had only opened up a couple of years previously.

She chose a table and they sat, briefly scanning the menu.

"Sake?" she asked Kakashi. He nodded appreciatively. Sakura waved the waitress over to order. They ordered their meals, and a bottle of sake, the latter of which arrived almost immediately.

After the first drink, Sakura poured another for them both. Frustratingly, Kakashi had managed to drink his sake so fast that she hadn't caught a glimpse under his mask. The second cup was much the same; she was so distracted trying to see beneath his mask that she downed the drink without thinking. By the third drink a warm buzz was spreading through her stomach and throat, a light, warm feeling bubbling up inside her. She sighed happily when their meals arrived, digging into the food. Her bites were interspersed with more sips of sake, as Kakashi kept refilling their cups.

"So," she began, feeling more adventurous than usual. "Tell me. What do you really do when you're not killing people for ANBU?" Kakashi hesitated, an amused smile in his eyes.

"Surely you should know this already." he protested, leaning forward slightly. She shrugged.

"When we met, years ago, you said you had many hobbies. You never really expanded on that though."

Kakashi leaned forward even closer, causing her to lean in as well. His eyes had taken on the mischievous glint which he often adopted when he was flirting with her. For some reason, she didn't think she'd mind if he said something inappropriate right now.

"My hobbies?" he asked slowly. "I like to run. I like to read." he paused. "I like to fuck beautiful pink haired women."

Her eyes widened. In her tipsy state, she didn't feel the need to be embarrassed by his statement. Actually, it was probably true. He probably did like to fuck beautiful pink hai-

"Not that I've ever met a beautiful pink haired woman before now." he continued, looking slightly disappointed. "I should say that it's a hobby I _think_ I'd enjoy."

Sakura giggled. He laughed warmly as well.

"I'm sure you would." she replied, biting back a suggestive smile. _I've never seen Kakashi so open before,_ she thought wonderingly, gazing at him with wide jade eyes. _Even his body language..._

"You know what we should do!" she exclaimed suddenly. He chuckled.

"What should we do?" he asked. She grinned.

"We should take some sake home and play drinking games." She looked genuinely excited at the prospect of getting even more drunk, and Kakashi had to agree. _Kami, she looks beautiful like that,_ Kakashi thought.

"Okay." he agreed, standing and offering her a hand up. She took his hand in hers, noting that without the gloves he always wore, his hands were actually quite warm. She slapped some money onto the table, ignoring his wince as he realised he couldn't pay.

"Come on." she tugged lightly on his hand, leading him from the restaurant. The waitress gave a smile and a wave as they walked back out into the colder air of the night.

They stopped at a bottle store on the way home to buy more sake, before stumbling up her apartment steps, unable to suppress their laughter when Kakashi slipped on one of the steps and almost pulled them both over. The thought briefly occurred to Sakura that she might already be drunk, but she pushed it aside. Stupid thought.

* * *

"We're home!" she sang cheerfully, letting them into the apartment after fumbling with the lock for a minute. They kicked the door closed behind them, flicked on the lights, and made their way towards the couch, sitting on the floor and leaning against it. Kakashi pulled his own shoes off before pulling her boots off for her, throwing them all into a pile several feet away.

"Drinking games!" Sakura crowed, twisting the bottle cap off the sake. It was the cheap kind, bought in the liquor store for a few coins, but neither of them were complaining.

"What game do you want to play?" Kakashi asked her, noting the warm feeling which had spread throughout his whole body. She bit her lip thoughtfully. A wicked glint entered her eyes.

"Let's play truth or dare." she grinned. "And if you can't complete a task, you have to drink." Kakashi scoffed.

"Woman, I bet you ten Yen you'll back out of all my dares." he challenged. Her eyes narrowed.

"You're on." she replied. Kakashi laughed.

"Right, then, I dare you-"

"Hey! Ladies first!" she admonished. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." he replied immediately. She considered thoughtfully for a moment. Then her eyes lit up, a giggle escaping her already.

"Right." she laughed. "I dare you to go next door right now, and ask Gai-sensei for a pair of women's panties to sleep in. Tell him you ran out."

At the disgusted expression on Kakashi's mostly-covered face, she burst out laughing.

"See!" she exclaimed. "I knew you'd be too much of a pussy." Kakashi's face hardened.

"I accept." he replied with all the dignity he could muster. Her eyes widened as he stood and walked to the door, leaving it open a crack so that she could listen. She heard a knock, and a few beats later, Gai's voice answering the door.

"Ah, Kakashi!" Gai exclaimed happily. "Are you here to challenge me to a contest?" Sakura rolled her eyes. _Honestly, the man has way too much enthusiasm for it to be normal._

She heard Kakashi clear his throat.

"Ah, no." he began awkwardly. "Actually I... I was wondering if you have a pair of women's panties that I could borrow. To sleep in. I ran out." he forced the words out. Sakura clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

A few moments later, Kakashi reentered the apartment, looking mildly concussed. He held up his hand, in which was balled a pair of lacy... black... panties.

Sakura burst into peals of laughter, hugging her arms to her stomach. She laughed until tears began to run from her eyes and her ribs ached. Kakashi refused to laugh, though she could see the beginnings of a smile in his visible eye. When she was done, she wiped her face, breathing harshly.

"Holy fuck." was her only comment. Kakashi did his best not snicker.

"My turn." he announced triumphantly, dropping the panties to the floor and returning to sit beside her on the ground. Sakura straightened up from her slouch.

"Truth or dare?" he asked. The look in his eye was a clear challenge.

"Dare." she replied defiantly, tossing her hair.

"I dare you... to remove all but two items of clothing." Sakura scoffed.

"As if that's a scary dare." she laughed, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head. Kakashi gaped. She stood and unzipped her skirt, letting it fall to the floor as well. She stood in front of him in just her bra and panties, one brow raised defiantly.

"I'm a medical kunoichi, remember?" she giggled. "I look at naked bodies for a living. It would be a little hypocritical of me to be afraid of my own." she shrugged and sat back down on the floor, taking a swig of sake. She offered the bottle to Kakashi, who took it absently, concentrating completely on not outright staring at Sakura's body. He couldn't say he was succeeding, honestly. Though she was still young, seventeen he remembered she'd said, she was quite curvaceous, with a small waist and round hips and ass. She was also flushed slightly from the sake.

"Truth or dare?" she asked, brushing a stray strand of hair back from her face.

"Dare." he said boldly, still trying to ignore the soft breasts which were filling out her white bra. Sakura smiled.

"I was hoping you'd choose dare."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because I dare you to kiss me-" his mask was off and his lips crashed against hers before she could finish the sentence. She closed her eyes happily, returning the kiss. He crawled onto his hands and knees and leaned over her, pushing her back to lie on the ground without breaking the kiss. She hummed softly into his mouth and he groaned in response. She let his tongue flick against hers, biting his lower lip gently. Her hands reached up to pull off his hitai ate, and she discarded it onto the ground beside them. She began to run her hands through his hair, tangling her fingers in the locks.

Their kiss grew more passionate as he leaned in closer to her, pressing their chests together. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled his hips flush with hers, smiling into the kiss when she felt him growing hard. He broke the kiss first, gasping for breath.

"Kami, Sakura." he breathed into her ear, delighting in the shivers that run up her body. He brushed his lips along her jaw and neck before pressing a kiss to the hollow of her collarbone. She shivered again as he began to suck the skin, adding gentle bites. He traced one of his hands along her waist and hip before sliding it beneath her to cup one of her ass cheeks.

She gave a tiny, needy moan (and oh god he could come right there and then if she kept moaning like that) and arched her back. He moved his mouth lower, tracing his tongue beneath his collarbone till he found the cup of her bra. Softly, lightly, he ran a finger along the top of the bra, smiling as goosebumps rose on her skin. She gave a mewling sigh and pulled his head down so that his mouth was on her breast. He chuckled, reaching beneath her with both hands to unclip her bra. He pulled away from her momentarily to pull the bra off her, groaning and biting his lip at the sight of her full, rounded breasts.

"Kakashi," she murmured as he want back to sucking at her skin, this time leaving a trail of kissing across one of her breasts. "You know how you said you think you'd enjoy- _oh do that again-_ ah, you think you'd enjoy fucking a pink haired woman?" she gasped out, tightening her legs around his waist. He hummed in response, intent on drawing blood to the surface of her skin as he sucked and bit the curve of her breast. She shuddered.

"Well I think- _oh-_ I think now is a perfect time to test that theory." she managed, gripping his hair in her hands almost painfully. Kakashi pulled back for a moment to look at her, tangled in his arms beneath him, all but naked, with angry red splotches rising on her skin from his earlier ministrations. Her eyes were darker and wider than he'd ever seen before, and her lips were slightly parted.

"I think you're right." he replied, lifting her up to take her to bed.


	3. The Hokage's Bet

Sakura awoke with a pounding headache, a warm body pressed up against her back, and the sense that something was very amiss. She opened her eyes groggily, wincing at the brightness of the sunlight which was streaming through her window. After a moment of staring, bleary eyed, at the pile of clothes by her bed, she pulled herself up to rest on her hands and knees, and glanced down at the man sleeping beside her.

For a moment she was completely silent. Then:

"Fuck." she cursed lowly, sweeping her hair back off her face. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." The sound of her swearing woke Kakashi from his slumber, and he began to stir beside her. Sakura froze. _Fuck,_ she cursed internally this time. _I slept with Kakashi. _Kakashi!_ Fucking Kami, I am such an idiot._

In a flash, she was out of the bed and backing towards the couch, absently pulling on the first item of clothing which she could grab off the floor. Too late, she realised it was the jounin shirt which Kakashi had been wearing the previous day. It was too big for her, and fell to the tops of her thighs.

"Sakura." Kakashi rolled over lazily to face her, his sharingan eye still closed. Sakura froze. He had slept without his mask on, and now, in the light of the morning, she felt her chest flutter lightly to take in the strong, handsome set of his face. A small part of her wanted to climb back into bed with him and fuck all over again, but her more logical side cast that thought away.

"Um." she began awkwardly, taking a deep breath. "Look. What we did last night- I mean, you're my sensei. So we can't... It's not like we can- you know."

Kakashi looked slightly confused, arching one eyebrow.

"We had sex." he clarified slowly, moving to sit up. Sakura tried to ignore the way the sheets had fallen to settle on his hips, leaving his muscled chest and stomach exposed. The sunlight coming through the window behind him lit up his hair, making it seem even paler than usual. Sakura swallowed and blinked.

"Yes. That's what I- I mean, that was a mistake."

Kakashi schooled his face into an impassive mask.

"Right." he agreed easily, giving her a practiced grin. "We were drunk. It's not like it matters or anything." Kakashi hid the pang of disappointment he felt when Sakura nodded.

"Of course." she agreed, channeling her inner politician as well to smile in return. "Just a drunken mistake."

_There it is again,_ Kakashi thought with a tinge of bitterness. _That word - 'mistake'. Funny, I'm usually the one talking my way out of these situations the morning after. Most women don't try to convince me we did something wrong. _

Outwardly, Kakashi was the picture of calm. He rose from the bed and pulled on his mask and pants from the day before, pretending he didn't notice that Sakura stared for a moment before glancing away. He felt better once his mask was on - more comfortable. He'd always found it easiest to hide his thoughts when his face was hidden too.

They dressed for the day's work with a forced professionalism, Sakura in full mission gear, and Kakashi in the clothes he'd worn the previous day. Their only exchanges were polite and forced. It was almost a relief when they finally left the apartment, Sakura leading the way to the Hokage's office.

* * *

Tsunade looked up from the encoded scroll which had just been handed to her by Hatake when the door to her office swung open, and in came the younger Kakashi, and her own little apprentice. She immediately knew something was wrong. Sakura's facial expression when she was angry often emulated her own - the forced calm which came from years of political negotiations with tetchy shinobi. And Kami, did Sakura look angry. To anyone else, her expression would have been unreadable, Tsunade noted proudly, but to her, it was as if Sakura was holding up a glowing sign which said: 'I am upset and angry. _And it's his fault'_. The tense set of the kunoichi's shoulders was another giveaway, as was the way her fingers twitched slightly towards her kunai pouch when she took in the older Hatake standing before Tsunade's desk as well. _Uh oh,_ Tsunade thought uneasily. _I really don't need another knife fight from those two. Last time I had to buy a new desk._

"Morning, Sakura-chan, Hatake." she attempted a bright tone, suppressing a grimace at the quizzical expression on the older Kakashi's face as he took in Sakura's forced impassivity, and his younger self's curt nod. Sakura gave her a quick, evasive smile and a greeting, but otherwise ignored both Kakashis.

"As you've probably guessed, Hatake got back from his mission this morning," Tsunade began. "So he will also be going along to investigate the cave today. I would send someone else along as well, but we're a little understaffed at the moment, and I'm sure the three of you can handle it." she glanced around the room at the three before her, and just barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Only Sakura was paying any attention - both Hatakes were glaring at each other with the irritating fierceness which Kakashi sometimes adopted when he was absolutely set on getting his own way. Tsunade sighed quietly.

"You three can leave immediately. Before you go, Sakura, I need to talk to you. You two, get out." She directed the last comment at the Hatakes, who seemed to snap back to attention when she addressed them, and left the office quickly. Once the door had closed behind them, Tsunade turned back to her apprentice, who looked significantly less composed now that the men were gone.

"What's wrong?" she asked seriously, fixing her gaze on Sakura's. The girl bit her lip, an old habit which Tsunade hadn't seen since the months after Sasuke had left the village. Tsunade felt her gaze soften a little as she took in her apprentice's obvious discomfort. With a jerk of her head, Tsunade instructed the girl to take a seat by her desk. Sakura looked slightly surprised, but acquiesced, sliding into the chair which was usually occupied by Shizune.

"Tell me what's making you angry." she ordered, her voice lacking any real authority. Sakura deliberated for a moment before sighing, brushing her hair back from her face and tucking a stray strand behind her ear.

"Well, I had sex with Kakashi - the younger one - last night," she began seriously, before Tsunade cut her off.

"What was that?" she asked, a scary edge entering her voice. Sakura grimaced and avoided her gaze.

"We were really drunk and it just sort of happened." she shrugged with forced nonchalance. "Except that now he's acting as if nothing happened and it didn't matter at all. I mean, so am I, and it didn't matter at all, obviously, it was just a mistake, but..."

"I'm going to kill him." Tsunade decided bluntly, not noticing the surprised look which Sakura directed at her. A strangely maternal instinct had hit her out of the blue, and she felt exactly as she had the time a man had tried to drug Shizune on their travels several years previously - Shizune hadn't needed her help in killing the man, of course, she'd done that because she wanted to. And that was _exactly_ what she was going to do to the white haired, grumbly, inconsiderate fuck who had-

"Um, Tsunade-sama? You're crushing the desk again." Sakura's concerned tone broke her from her plotting, and she looked down to realise that she had, in fact, crushed the edge of her desk, leaving a hand shaped hole in the wood.

"Oops." she remarked absently, turning back to her pink haired apprentice. "Sakura." The girl's eyes widened at her grave tone.

"Yes, shishou?" she replied. Tsunade paused.

"Do you want me to put him on genin supervision for the rest of his career?" she asked seriously. Sakura let out a surprised and slightly alarmed laugh.

"No, no, that's not necessary." she placated her shishou, pasting a smile back onto her face. "I'll just... I'll just screw with his head for the next few days, and then as soon as he's gone back to his time it won't matter anyway. The report said he didn't remember anything from his time here, and Kakashi-sensei clearly doesn't remember now, so in a couple of days I'll never have to think about it again. Of course he wouldn't tell his older self." she reasoned.

Tsunade nodded approvingly.

"Atta girl." she said, her tone coloured with pride. _And I'll assign him extra paperwork from now on._

* * *

"What did you do." Kakashi's voice was a low growl as he pinned his younger counterpart to the wall outside the Hokage's office. The younger man attempted to shove him off, but to no avail. The older Hatake pushed him, hard, against the stone wall.

"I didn't _do_ anything. She's a consenting adult, and it's none of your business. Well- none of- this is confusing, but it's not your business!" The younger Kakashi retorted angrily. He stopped talking when he felt the sudden surge in killing intent coming from his older self.

"You. Had sex. With my _student?_" Kakashi's asked disbelievingly, frozen for a moment. The younger Kakashi shrugged.

* * *

Sakura stepped out of the Hokage's office moments later to find her sensei crouched over his younger self, who was sporting a rapidly swelling black eye and a nosebleed which had soaked through his mask. He also appeared to be knocked out cold. Sakura gaped.

She heard the quiet click of Tsunade's heels behind her, and stepped out of the way to let her shishou through. The quiet groan of exasperation which came from Tsunade as she took in the sight was enough to make Kakashi-sensei glance up guiltily. Tsunade arched an eyebrow.

"It was... necessary?" Kakashi offered hopefully as way of explanation. It took all of Sakura's self control not to groan alongside her shishou again.

"Three minutes." Tsunade voiced incredulously, waving Kakashi away from the body lying prone on the floor so that she could crouch down beside him. "I left you two alone for _three minutes_ and you couldn't avoid having a fist fight for that long?" Kakashi made to answer, and Tsunade shot him a scathing glare.

"Don't reply." she ordered bluntly, checking the pulse of the younger Hatake. "I am less likely to punch you if you don't talk." Kakashi promptly backed away from the Hokage, looking slightly uneasy. Tsunade sighed.

"He's fine." she announced, not sounding entirely happy about that fact. "But perhaps it would be better if I sent the two of you alone today. I'll keep an eye on this brat while you investigate the site. Sakura-chan, the location of the cave was marked in the report, wasn't it?" At Sakura's affirmative nod, Tsunade stood, slinging the younger man over her shoulder none-too-gently.

"Wonderful." she said drily, turning to close her office door and lead them down the hallway. "I'll drop this one off to Shizune, and you two can report to me later. I'm sure she can keep him out of trouble for a few hours."

Kakashi and Sakura mumbled their assent as Tsunade took off in the opposite direction to them.

There followed an awkward silence as the pair made their way into Konoha's surrounding forests, following the hastily scrawled directions on the mission file. It felt strange not being able to talk to Kakashi, Sakura mused. Sure, he annoyed the hell out of her sometimes. They'd always had their fair share of arguments, especially when Kakashi tried to pass off his paperwork onto her, or she insisted in being involved in the combative side of a political mission. And then there was that small incident last year with the knives... but it had never been awkward between them before. Even when they wanted to kill each other, she knew she could always count on her sensei - her friend, if she was honest - to have her back.

"Uh, Sakura." Kakashi's voice interrupted her musings as they walked. She turned to him with raised eyebrows, taking in his uncharacteristically quiet tone and the way he ran his hand through his hair nervously. Rather than put him out of his misery, as a small part of her longed to do, Sakura stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. He looked slightly uncomfortable and shifted his gaze away when her eyes met his.

"I don't know exactly what happened between you and... well, I guess me. Not that I would ever- you know what I mean." He scrambled awkwardly to find the right words, cutting off short at Sakura's slightly hurt expression.

"What I mean," he tried again, "is that I'm sorry. If I hurt you or... made you feel uncomfortable. I- I wasn't a very good person when I was in ANBU."

Sakura felt an unwilling pang of empathy for him. She knew all too well what it was like to despise the person you'd used to be - Kami knew she had spent a long time moving on from the fragile little girl she'd been before she became Tsunade's apprentice.

Outwardly, Sakura merely shrugged.

"It didn't mean anything." she replied calmly. "I'm an adult, and clearly back then you were more in to women, and anyway, sometimes these things just happen." She settled back into a faster pace and pushed ahead slightly, making a point of rereading the directions on the map.

Unnoticed by Sakura, Kakashi frowned in confusion as his pace unwittingly slowed. _What does she mean by 'back then I was more into women'?_ He asked himself. _Does she think I'm not into women anymore?_ More troubling still was the question which rose unbidden in his mind: _was I really unimpressive enough that she can just shrug it off like that?_

"Okay, I think we're here." Sakura called from up ahead.

"Hmm? Oh, right." He surveyed the area carefully. This part of the forest seemed as benign to him as all the other caves they had passed on the way there - a rocky hill formed the overhang under which the cave mouth awned, and a thick circle of trees surrounded the small clearing. After a moment, he sighed. "I don't remember this place." he admitted with a shrug. Sakura frowned thoughtfully, drawing a kunai from the holster on her thigh by instinct. They made their way cautiously towards the cave mouth; Kakashi activated his sharingan as they entered the relative gloom of the cavern.

"I can't see." Sakura complained after a minute or so of walking. The cave had been sloping slowly downwards, and no longer could they make out their surroundings by the outside light. Kakashi grinned in the darkness.

"I can." he announced casually, knowing full well that the kunoichi was glaring at him.

"Yes, _thank you_ for that clarification." Sakura returned testily.

With a roll of his eyes, Kakashi channeled his chakra into a chidori, raising his hand to light up the cave around them. It appeared to be one long tunnel, made naturally from the rocks which had melded together over many years. It continued to slope gently downwards; it was with some trepidation that Kakashi and Sakura followed the direction of the tunnel into the earth.

After what felt like a long time, but was probably only several minutes, the tunnel reached a fork. The left option led deeper into the earth, becoming immediately narrower; the right option, however, gave way to a rounded cave which constituted a dead end. It was on the floor of that cave that they found the seal. Sakura gasped. Purple and glowing lightly in the darkness, the seal itself was huge, easily the size of the seals she sometimes used on the occasion that she had to heal a Hyuuga. The sealing script, too, was familiar. Though its properties and content of the signs were different to those of her medical sealing techniques, the way in which the seal was set up was looked to be an attempt to transport large amounts of chakra. Stranger still, was that she found she could read the markings. Sakura made a tiny noise of appreciation in the back of her throat as she began to draw closer to it.

"Incredible." she murmured, glancing back at Kakashi, who'd let his chidori fizzle out at the new source of light. He was staring in consternation at the glowing seal, eyes thoughtful.

Sakura almost felt as if in a dream as she bent down beside the glowing markings and stretched out her hand. Her fingers grew closer to the outer edge and-

Kakashi yanked her back by her shirt.

"Don't touch it!" he snapped, pulling her flush against his chest. "We have no idea what it is."

Sakura turned to him with a small frown.

"Of course we know what it is. Can't you read it?" she asked.

"Of course not." he replied, perplexed. It was then that Sakura realised she was still pressed up against him, her chest against his. With an awkward and completely feigned cough, Kakashi pulled away from her, though he held her firmly by the upper arm as he took a step towards the main tunnel.

"We're leaving." he stated, leaving no room for argument. Sakura let him lead her out of the smaller cave, along the tunnel, and finally, out of the cave mouth and into the fresh air of the forest without protest.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded as soon as they'd made it back into the shelter of the trees, letting go of her arm. Sakura frowned.

"What the hell was _what_?" she asked. Kakashi stared.

"How did you read that?"

"I just did." she shrugged. "Shizune will be proud. Maybe all her sealing classes are finally paying off." Her weak attempt at humour was lost on her sensei, who gave her one last searching look before heading off in the direction of the village. _Strange,_ Sakura noted. _He looks a little worried._

Sakura found that the further away they got from the cave, the less her idea to touch the seal seemed like a good one. At the time, with the purple markings glowing back at her, all she'd wanted to do was activate it; but now, with Kakashi shooting her strange looks every few minutes, and the memory of what exactly the seal had 'said' fading with every step, that seemed like a truly awful idea.

It seemed Tsunade shared that view.

"Sorry, say that again, you wanted to _touch _the huge, unregistered seal glowing by itself in the middle of a cave?" she asked, just a hint of incredulity entering her voice. She could practically feel the exasperation rolling off both her sensei and her shishou in waves. Sakura opened her mouth to defend herself.

"In retrospect, I do see how that could be construed as something vaguely resembling a bad idea," she admitted. "But I could read it. The markings, I mean, I could read what the seal was meant for by its markings."

Tsunade arched an eyebrow.

"You could read it?" She sounded simultaneously confused and slightly impressed. Sakura nodded thoughtfully.

"It was set up to transport large amounts of chakra." she explained, inadvertently tucking her hair behind her ears. "I could tell that much. And it was arranged in the same way that we set up our seals when we're healing the Hyuuga - to try to contain the chakra within the seal for a set period of time." Tsunade frowned.

"Do you think you could redraw it?" she asked. Sakura hesitated before nodding.

"I could. I might need Kakashi to help me." She sounded vaguely pissed off by the idea of having to spend more time with the man than necessary, but, Tsunade noticed with a small swell of pride, she instinctively straightened her back and raised her brow when Kakashi agreed to help.

"Wondrous." she commented drily, adopting her usual cynical facade. "Go and work on that now. When it's done, bring it back to me, and I'll have a seals specialist take a look at it." The two turned to leave. "Oh, by the way," she added, "the other Hatake is going to be spending the night with you." She sent a pointed look towards Kakashi, who nodded wearily. _Serves me right,_ he ruminated bitterly. _Though I'm not sure which of us is going to enjoy the other's company the least..._

* * *

"Is that right?" Kakashi asked with a frown. Sakura stared at the diagram for a moment.

"There's just one thing... hang on... yes, that's right." She surveyed her work with a critical eye. Though the drawing had none of the charisma which the actual seal had possessed, it was an accurate enough likeness to the markings. Kakashi hummed his approval as she filled in the final symbols.

The chatter of the civilians around them had long since faded into background noise; after an awkward discussion of whose apartment would be best to work in, the pair had settled on a popular dango house to work on the diagram instead. Unfortunately for the restaurant staff, neither of them actually liked dango, though no one was stupid enough to make demands of the infamous copy nin and the Hokage's apprentice. They'd sat in the restaurant for over an hour, undisturbed, without being asked to order anything.

"Well, I suppose we should get that to Tsunade-sama straight away." Kakashi offered vaguely. Sakura nodded.

"Let's go, then." she murmured, already up and on her feet. Kakashi glanced up in surprise - since when had she been able to move without him noticing? That was new.

They went their own ways after dropping the diagram off at Tsunade; Kakashi was sent off to the hospital to rescue his younger self from Shizune's office, and Sakura decided to go home. The sky was in the transition between sunset and darkness as she made her way slowly through the streets, savouring the feeling of having no work left for the day. When she opened the door to her apartment, however, the space seemed less inviting than usual; there was evidence of Kakashi everywhere, from the blankets on the couch to the extra mug on the kitchen bench. Without him there, it felt a little empty. Sakura frowned and began to put her apartment back in order. Only when she had arranged her apartment back into its usual clean state did she feel a little better. She settled down on her couch with a medical textbook she'd been meaning to read for weeks, and tried to pretend she couldn't feel the cold, niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach where yesterday there'd been only the warm hum of contentment.

* * *

"Good evening, Shizune-san." Kakashi called politely as he entered her office at the hospital. She looked up from her textbook in surprise; she'd never had anything to complain about with Hatake, but he wasn't exactly known for his impeccable manners. Bemused, she shrugged it off, offering a friendly, albeit tired, greeting in return. Once the exchange was over, Kakashi's gaze flickered immediately to his younger self, who was slouched in a chair, reading... oh god, was that Icha Icha? Shizune suppressed a groan. _Where on earth did he find that?_ she wondered.

"Anyway, thanks for looking after him." Kakashi nodded in her direction. "I'll get him- um, us - out of your hair now."

The two men left quickly, both avoiding talking to the other. As they closed the door behind them, Shizune rolled her eyes. _As if one sulking Hatake isn't enough,_ she sighed.

* * *

The walk home was silent and tense. Kakashi tried to restrain himself from glaring at his younger self, but the younger Kakashi didn't even attempt to hide his scowl. Any other day, Kakashi would have laughed at the expression on the face of the little girl his younger counterpart had adopted as a henge. Today, however, he was trying to be mature. He was also more than a little furious.

At the door to his apartment, Kakashi turned to his younger self.

"You and I need to have a talk." he stated shortly, cutting off the younger man's attempt to interrupt. He opened the door, instinctively turning on the lights for his guest before realising that of course, his younger self possessed a sharingan too. Even so, he left the lights on. Once, Sakura had escorted him home after a particularly tough mission, claiming she was 'making sure he didn't collapse on the street'. She'd been completely freaked out when he invited her in and left the lights off, leading her into a dark apartment without a word. Since then, he'd made an effort to accommodate for his teammates' lack of ability to see in the dark.

"Sit." he ordered the younger man, who had now dropped his 'little girl' henge, gesturing to the low table in the centre of the room. His younger counterpart eyed him balefully, but accepted the seat anyway. For a moment, Kakashi considered remaining standing (far more intimidating), but after a brief hesitation, he joined his younger self on the floor.

"If you're going to lecture me just get it over-"

"Shut up." Kakashi interrupted. The younger man glowered. "You're irresponsible. You'll never learn, not for years, so it's pointless telling you. But you should know that you're reckless. _I_ was reckless. When I was you. And you're making so many mistakes, staying in ANBU. Kami, I never wanted to see myself like this again. I can't help but hate you."

The younger man had dropped his defensive glare, a hint of genuine hurt entering his eyes as Kakashi ranted.

"But," Kakashi continued, looking down at the tabletop, "it gets better. In a few years you'll become a jounin sensei, and that changes everything." He paused. "Tsunade-sama told me that you won't remember this when you get back, but I want to say it anyway. You'll be okay. Eventually. And you'll live on to one day see your younger self upsetting your friend - and that will make you furious. But you will have friends again."

He glanced across at his younger self, expecting the self-righteous coldness which he'd so often adopted in his younger years. He saw none of that. Instead, his younger self sat with closed eyes, his head bowed slightly forward. Kakashi fell silent.

"Go to sleep." he muttered eventually, climbing up from the floor. The younger man nodded, accepting the blanket which Kakashi tossed towards him.

Both men pretended to fall straight to sleep, and both men lay awake for hours, each lost in thoughts of their past, their future, and the pink haired kunoichi who was now talking to neither of them.

* * *

"Shizune! Shizune-chan, come talk to your favourite Hokage!" Tsunade called brightly, her words slurring slightly. She heard the click of Shizune's heels along the hallway outside her office, and then her apprentice was standing before her, glaring disapprovingly at the half empty bottle of sake in Tsunade's hand. Tsunade merely grinned, shrugging as if to say 'what can you do? I just randomly found this on my desk'. Shizune gave a long suffering sigh.

"Tsunade-sama." she admonished sternly, making a grab over the desk for the bottle. Tsunade easily held it out of her way, letting out a giggle at the exasperated expression on Shizune's face.

"Hey, I didn't call you in here to steal my alcohol!" Tsunade exclaimed, taking another swig from the bottle. "I have news." she grinned, her voice adopting a sing-song tone. Shizune rolled her eyes.

"News?" she indulged her shishou. Tsunade nodded, a wicked glint entering her eyes.

"You were right. Our little kunoichi definitely has a thing for older men." Now Shizune looked interested.

"Not Genma again?" she asked conspiratorially. Tsunade smirked and shook her head.

"The Hatake brat." she giggled.

"Kakashi?! Really?" Shizune replied, interested despite herself. Tsunade nodded.

"The younger one. Bit of a weird situation, really." she confided, her expression changing from amused to thoughtful. "The older one didn't seem too pleased about it, though." She leaned forward. "I think he was jealous." she added.

Shizune frowned incredulously.

"I don't think Sakura would go for her ex-sensei, would she?" she mused aloud. Tsunade shrugged.

"Doesn't matter if she does." she replied, knocking back another shot's worth of sake. "It's not like he's her teacher anymore. In fact, I'm going to bet on it!" she announced triumphantly. Shizune groaned.

"Tsunade-sama, you really shouldn't be making bets when you're drunk-"

"Shizune, I am the Hokage, and I will bet on my students' sex life no matter how inebriated I am!" she interrupted. Shizune cringed. _That sounds so strange,_ she thought.

"And," Tsunade continued, unperturbed by the look of consternation on her apprentice's face, "I bet you a round of drinks that Sakura and Hatake have secret feelings for each other. No, I bet you _two_ rounds of drinks!"

Shizune changed tactic.

"Fine." she agreed breezily, finally managing to swipe the offending bottle out of Tsunade's hand. "But you know, Tsunade-sama, you never win your bets."

Tsunade shrugged.

"Sometimes I get lucky." she replied. She abruptly broke into giggles. "Here's to hoping Sakura gets lucky, too."

This time, Shizune had to suppress a smile. Her shishou was ridiculous sometimes, but her sense of humour increased tenfold every time she had a bottle of sake in her hand. Well, either that, or she ended up throwing some poor chuunin through a window... and on that note, Shizune made an executive decision.

"Time to go home, Tsunade-sama!" she announced brightly.


	4. The Misbehaving Seal

**A/N: Sorry for the late update guys! I'm taking my mid-year exams at the moment, so updates will be a little slower. Thank you for being patient. xx**

* * *

Sakura took extra time to dress the next morning, braiding her hair back neatly and stocking extra kunai into her weapons pouch. She didn't know why, but she somehow felt as if she would be grateful for the extra preparation at some point during the day; call it a sixth sense, but Sakura always awoke feeling slightly on edge on the days when she ended up having to kick some heads in. Of course, the events of the previous day indicated that it might have to be one of the two Kakashis' heads that she ended up kicking in, but she wasn't one to jump to conclusions.

As she left her apartment, Sakura activated one of the simple security seals that she hadn't used in days. As a general rule, no one was stupid enough to try to break into Sakura's apartment; well, no one except Kakashi, who was also one of the only people who could take a decent scolding from her. Therefore, Sakura didn't feel the need to seal and trap her apartment most of the time - only when she was away on missions did she bother.

Sakura stopped at Shizune's house on the way to the Hokage's office, and was greeted by the sleepy brunette at the front door.

"Morning, Sakura-chan." Shizune yawned, her eyes crinkling into a fond smile. "Would you like to come in?" Sakura shook her head with a smile, pretending not to notice the half-naked form of Tokuma Hyuuga in the kitchen behind Shizune. Shizune blushed lightly, taking in the flicker of Sakura's eyes despite her impassive expression.

"Ah, it's not exactly what it looks like." she protested weakly. Sakura laughed.

"I'm really not one to judge, am I?" she replied with a grin. "Don't worry, neechan. Your secret is safe with me. Besides, you couldn't have picked a better Hyuuga."

Shizune smiled gratefully, the blush still fading from her cheeks.

"Thanks, Sakura. So, what can I do for you this morning?"

"I was wondering if I could talk to you about sealing, actually." Shizune nodded, becoming serious.

"What about it in particular?" Sakura chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"Have you ever heard of someone being able to read another person's seal on sight?" she asked. She was met with a thoughtful frown.

"Not on sight." was her eventual reply. "Though I've heard that Jiraiya-sama can figure out the exact meaning of a seal if he's given a few hours. Why, have you discovered your prodigal talent for sealing?" she asked half-jokingly. When Sakura didn't laugh in reply, Shizune scanned her face seriously. "What is it?" she asked.

Sakura smiled quickly.

"I'm sure it's nothing." she reassured her, shrugging off the question. "Just a strange experience I had yesterday. I tried to read some basic seals last night, though, and I had just as much trouble as always. Ah, never mind. I'll leave you and Tokuma to uh... wake up properly."

She left with an amused grin on her face, storing away the tidbit of information for blackmail at a later date.

* * *

"Hatake. And uh, other Hatake. Morning." Tsunade greeted the men with a nod as they entered her office before turning back to the decoded diagram which Jiraiya had handed to her only minutes before. She had been grateful to find out that the man was back in Konoha the previous day, for the first time in months, it seemed. He'd accepted the diagram and worked on it through the night, before taking off again on a 'training exercise' with Naruto. Tsunade had dutifully ignored their obvious attempt to hide what was really a glorified day trip, and sent them both off with a warning to "stay out of danger and bath houses".

Sakura wandered in several minutes later, looking for all purposes as if she was ready to take down an entire army that day. Tsunade felt a fond swell of pride just looking at her fiery apprentice, complete with neatly braided hair and a plethora of weapons hidden on her body, distinguishable only to the eye of the woman who'd taught her where to hide them. Her greeting to Sakura was considerably warmer than when she'd spoken to the Hatakes.

"Morning, Sakura-chan." she smiled. "Creative placement of your kunai today. Who are you planning on assassinating?" she joked, coaxing an amused grin from her pink haired apprentice. Sakura shrugged, stretching her arms behind her back.

"Ah, whoever takes my fancy, I imagine." she replied in mock seriousness. Tsunade stifled a snicker at the way both Hatakes faces had turned a peculiar shade of white, instead handing Sakura the decoded diagram which Jiraiya had produced.

Sakura's face turned ponderous as she considered it.

"This is almost right." she commented absently. "This part here- yes, that bit, that's not quite right. It doesn't mean 'transport the chakra', it means 'transport _their_ chakra'. Strange."

Tsunade tried to keep the flutter of surprise off her face as Sakura spoke, the girl pointing to the hastily scribbled notes which Jiraiya had left.

"Can I keep a copy of these?" she asked, finally looking up. Her eyes were alight with curiosity. Tsunade nodded.

"Great." Sakura grinned. "What's the plan today?" At that point, both Hatakes looked up, slightly more interested. Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Yamato should be here soon." she began cheerfully. "He'll be joining the three of you on another trip out to the cave today to check on the seal. You don't need to _do _anything exactly, except check that the area is secure and that the seal hasn't changed significantly or disappeared. Also, if you and Hatake could put up a simple containment seal around the site, just to make sure it stays in the one spot, that would be helpful. Jiraiya is out of the village for the day, but he will be returning tomorrow to assist with sending Kakashi back. And Sakura, do try to restrain yourself from touching the seal, _for the love of Kami,_ or at least let Hatake restrain you." Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Or Yamato." Tsunade amended quickly. Sakura looked slightly appeased, at which point Kakashi was struck by the sudden and troubling thought... _does Sakura like Yamato?_

"Who's Yamato?" the younger Kakashi asked his older self lowly.

"Tenzou." Kakashi replied shortly. He turned to Tsunade. "I take it he has been informed about the latest developments?" He gestured to himself and his younger counterpart.

"Ah." Tsunade frowned. "Actually, you're right, I probably should have considered that before he-"

"Reporting, Tsunade-sama, sorry I'm la- oh, what in the everliving fuck." Yamato stopped dead in his tracks. The expression on his face would have been hilarious, if not for the fact that Kakashi was too busy pondering the possibility that Sakura _liked_ Yamato to notice.

The man composed himself quickly, a resigned sigh escaping his lips.

"I apologise for my swearing, Tsunade-sama." he bowed quickly. Tsunade rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Yes, don't fucking swear in front of the Hokage." she reprimanded him mockingly. When he flushed and sent an annoyed glare towards the older Kakashi, Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Yamato, meet young Kakashi. He's somehow managed to travel through time to find himself nine years in the future, and at the moment we're trying to figure out how to send him back. You're going to be joining these three to further investigate the seal which we believe caused this _incident_. Good luck breaking up the fights." Tsunade finished with a wicked grin. "Sakura, fill him in on the way."

"Of course, shishou."

The group left quickly, leaving Tsunade alone in her office to giggle quietly. _Poor Yamato_, she thought.

* * *

"Hang on, you tried to _touch it_?" Yamato asked incredulously, sending a disbelieving glance Sakura's way.

"Why does everyone react that way?" Sakura exclaimed, shaking her head resignedly. "It wouldn't have done anything to me." she paused, frowning. "Well, it could have made me travel to a different year, but that's beside the point." she added.

Yamato groaned, rubbing his palm over his face.

"I can't believe I've wasted the past three years of my life with you idiots."

The older Kakashi nodded in agreement. Truth be told, he couldn't believe the man had stuck around past their ANBU days either.

"Anyway, we're here." he interjected, cutting the conversation short. Before them stood the natural cave, looking as unwelcoming as it had the day before. Kakashi led the procession towards it nonchalantly, all the while keeping Sakura in his peripheral vision. She caught his gaze for a moment, offering him a tiny, tired smile before flickering her gaze away once again. He noticed with some consternation that she clenched her jaw when she looked away, as if she was biting back a comment. Kakashi made a mental note to talk to her in private later.

As they entered the gloomy darkness of the cave, Kakashi began to draw lightning-natured chakra into his fist in preparation for the chidori which would light their way. To his surprise, the extra lighting wasn't necessary. In the twelve or so hours that he and Sakura had left the seal, its light had grown much stronger, and now illuminated even the tunnel in its strange purple glow. As they travelled along the tunnel, drawing closer to the fork in the road which would reveal the seal, the light grew brighter, and Sakura's eyes grew wider. His younger self kept his facade of forced impassivity, but Yamato didn't make much of an effort to hide his discomfort - not only was the man uncomfortable in caves, he also seemed to be finding the light strangely unsettling, if the expression of mild distaste on his face was anything to go by. Kakashi couldn't blame him.

When they finally reached the smaller cave which housed the seal, Sakura made to enter the room first. Kakashi grabbed her wrist in a firm grip, holding her back from the cave entrance.

"Younger me first." he murmured, leaving no room for argument. Sakura stared at him for a long second, gaze unreadable, before tugging her arm out of his grasp and following the younger Kakashi into the cavern. Kakashi followed her in, Yamato trailing reluctantly after.

The seal was almost blindingly bright. Kakashi watched with some trepidation as Sakura crouched on the ground before it, her eyes thoughtful. He was ready to pull her back at any moment, but this time, her hands stayed by her sides. After a moment of consideration, she rose to her feet, eyes thoughtful.

The younger Kakashi broke the silence.

"That looks... really familiar." he admitted, voice unreadable. Sakura bit her lip thoughtfully, turning to survey the younger man.

"Do you remember anything at all before you woke up in this time?" she asked. He deliberated.

"Just the purple light." he said finally, with a shrug. "I don't remember anyone being around, either. Whoever set this seal is clearly a genius, but I wouldn't like to make wild guesses as to who it is."

After a moment, the older Kakashi spoke up.

"Try anyway." he ordered. The younger man flashed a quick glance at him, but after a moment nodded. He ran his fingers through his hair in an unconscious nervous habit. The older Kakashi watched with narrowed eyes.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say Danzo." he confided honestly, meeting the others' eyes in turn. "I can't think of anyone else in Konoha powerful enough to set up a seal like this, or at least have someone do it for him. He could gain a lot from having the means to time travel, especially if he was keeping it from the Hokage. Though I think it was an accident that I got sent to this time. It's not as if I'm affiliated with him anymore."

The older Kakashi nodded, satisfied.

"I was thinking along the same lines." he agreed flatly. "Though that doesn't explain how Sakura can read the seal."

Three pairs of eyes turned to Sakura at once. She raised an eyebrow and gave a tiny shrug.

"Don't ask me." she deflected blithely. "I haven't got a clue."

Kakashi sighed.

"Anyway, Sakura, can you tell if anything about the seal has changed?" he asked tiredly. She shook her head.

"It has definitely changed state - it's becoming more active as time goes by. But the actual markings are the same, and its properties are the same, from what I can tell."

The four shinobi stared for a long moment at the glowing seal between them, pulsating with an otherworldly light.

"Can we go get some fresh air?" came Yamato's voice. The other three glanced quickly over to where he stood, discomfort etched into his face.

"Yamato-taichou, are you feeling okay?" Sakura was the first to reply, stepping forward, a note of concern in her voice. The mokuton user gave a strained nod and allowed her to place a cool hand on his forehead.

"You're burning up." she murmured, already turning to lead him from the cave. Both Hatakes followed after, exchanging a confused glance. Kakashi glared involuntarily at the steadying hand which Sakura placed on Yamato's arm, a pang of unreasonable annoyance running through him.

_Why am I annoyed? She's helping him_, he berated himself, averting his eyes. _Stop being an idiot._

As they broke out of the cave mouth and into the fresh air of the world above, Yamato let out a sigh of relief. Sakura guided him quickly to lean against a nearby tree, helping him to the ground. Away from the purple light of the cave, Yamato did look decidedly pale.

"Let me just check your vitals." Sakura said, frowning as she lifted her hand to Yamato's forehead once again. The green glow of her medical chakra began to emanate from her hand, humming faintly as she sent a diagnostic pulse through his body. Kakashi crouched down on the other side of Yamato, eyes narrowed.

"Hmm." Sakura sat back on her heels and allowed her hands to settle back in her lap. "There's nothing major wrong with you, just an elevated heartbeat, and your body temperature is fairly high. Have you been sick lately?" Her question was directed at her sometimes-captain, who looked vaguely uncomfortable with the reversal of authority between them. He shook his head.

"I strongly dislike caves." he admitted after a moment. Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, though he'd never tell him so, the younger man was as skilled a shinobi as he, had killed thousands of enemy nin, was unafraid in the face of death... and had a debilitating fear of caves. Typical.

"Well, you'll have to help secure the perimeter then." Kakashi decided abruptly, taking up the position of command. "You go with younger me, and I'll take Sakura back in-"

He broke off at Sakura's hard gaze.

"I'm going to finish stabilising his heartbeat and temperature first, sensei." she interjected. Kakashi kept the surprise from his eyes, but couldn't help but be slightly impressed that she was finally learning to stand her own ground with him. She'd always been the one to agree with him first, as a genin, leaving the arguing to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Fine." he agreed.

Several minutes passed as Sakura sent calming medical chakra into Yamato's system, slowing his heartbeat until it was back to a normal rate, and cooling his temperature slightly. Finally satisfied, she climbed back to her feet, extending a hand for Yamato too.

Kakashi couldn't help but regain a tinge of his earlier annoyance when the man took her hand in his and climbed back to his feet.

"Yamato, you go with him to secure the perimeter." he instructed shortly, gesturing towards his younger self. "Sakura and I will place a containment seal around the one in the cave while you scour the area. This shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

The two men nodded before bounding off into the trees, instinctively taking up one of their old ANBU formations. As soon as they were out of sight, Sakura turned to Kakashi.

"You should be nicer to him, you know." she reprimanded sternly. Before Kakashi could even think to reply, she had moved on.

"What kind of seal are we going to use?" she asked, voice professionally detached, as they began to walk back into the confines of the cave. Kakashi paused for a moment to process her change in attitude. He emulated her distant tone when he replied.

"We'll set up a basic containment seal to confine the reach of the chakra in this one." he replied. "It only needs to last until Jiraiya can help send the brat back."

"You speak about yourself horribly." she remarked, softly enough that Kakashi thought he may have imagined it. He shrugged.

They were almost at the fork in the tunnel once more when Sakura accidentally brushed her arm against Kakashi's. She made a startled noise in the back of her throat and jumped back, hitting her shoulder against the tunnel wall as her ankle rolled precariously. Kakashi turned around, grabbing her upper arm to steady her. There followed a moment of awkward silence as the two stared at each other.

"Um. You can let go of my arm now, Kakashi."

"Oh. Right."

Neither person moved. The silence stretched on as the two stood, his hand on her arm, eyes locked. The professional coldness of before had melted away, and in the purple light, Sakura looked strangely vulnerable. She was the first to break eye contact.

"We already went there, remember." she murmured, looking down. Without thinking, Kakashi reached out with his free hand to gently lift her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes again. He saw the surprise and the fragile, faltering hope reflected there, and took a tiny step closer.

"_We_ didn't." he replied. "I'm not... Sakura, the man out there may as well be a different person to who I am now."

"That's no excuse." she pointed out. He nodded and let go of her, stepping away.

"I understand that."

"You're an idiot."

"Yes, I can agree with that."

"Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

"You have two seconds to kiss me."

He didn't need to be told twice. He pushed her back against the cave wall in one stride, resting his hands on her waist. Her hand snaked up his chest to pull his mask down, and in one fluid movement their lips met. The kiss was fast paced and frantic, his lips pushing against hers fervently. Absently, he noticed that her hands were tangled in his hair, and one of his hands had found the curve of her ass.

He was the first to break away with a gasp, taking a stumbling step back. Sakura looked up at him in confusion, chest rising and falling lightly.

"Mission." he explained as he caught his breath. "We're on a mission. We can't be doing this now."

Sakura gazed at him for a moment before finally nodding.

"You're right." she agreed. "I'm sorry. Um- Right. Mission." She took a deep, steadying breath and took the lead as they began to walk down the tunnel once more. Her head spun a little. _Did that just happen?_ she asked herself.

* * *

"You seem... happier." Kakashi remarked as he ran beside Yamato, checking the perimeter they'd set up. Yamato shot him a strange glance, but eventually nodded.

"It's strange seeing you like this. You've changed a lot in recent years. I mean, you will change in a few years." he amended. "This is so confusing."

Kakashi nodded.

"You're telling me." he agreed, a note of frustration entering his voice. A strained silence ensued.

Several minutes later, Kakashi spoke up again.

"So, you and Sakura." he began flatly, forcing a disinterested note into his voice. Yamato shot him a strange look.

"Me and Sakura?" he questioned. Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Are you two together or something?"

He was slightly surprised when Yamato had to stop running, he was laughing so hard. It took several minutes for Yamato to regain his composure, by which point Kakashi was outright scowling.

"What?" he demanded. Yamato trailed off into chuckles, wiping his eyes.

"Nothing, nothing." he replied placatingly, finally returning to his previous, more serious tone. "Just that Sakura would sooner punch a man than kiss him. Since Sasuke left, she's only had time for training and hunting Akatsuki. Not that that would make much sense to you, of course." He shrugged, beginning to walk at a stride once more. Kakashi quickly caught up to him.

"Who is Sasuke?" he asked, all pretense of nonchalance discarded. Yamato seemed to consider for a moment, eyes calculating. After a long second he sighed wearily.

"Missing nin. Sakura was pretty hard in love with him, from what I can tell. He took off from the village a few years back, and since then she's only seen him at times when he's tried to kill her, or one of her friends. I think it was a pretty tough blow for her, especially with what happened the last time she saw him, but at least at that point she finally accepted that he's not coming back."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"I don't see how that's funny." he commented after a moment. Yamato shook his head.

"It's not." he replied. "The funny part was imagining your face if I tried to date your student. You're quite protective of her in this time, you know."

Kakashi grimace beneath his mask.

"Somehow," he said, "I get the feeling she can take care of herself pretty well."

Yamato snickered.

"You're right there." he agreed. "I've seen her throw a man into a tree and bring down half the forest, before. I pity any man who decides it's a good idea to screw her over." he confided.

Kakashi paled slightly, but Yamato didn't seem to notice.

* * *

"Hold it. You're doing well, try to keep it at that level." Kakashi instructed, concentrating on keeping his chakra output at the same level as Sakura's. She raised a brow at him from across the small cave, where she was sending chakra into the other half of the seal they were setting up over the purple one.

"Sorry." he added. "I'm used to trying to keep Naruto's chakra under control." Sakura sent him a tiny, if slightly tired, smile, before focussing once again on the seal which was hovering in the space between them, held in place by their hands on either side. Though it was a fairly simple seal, the amount of chakra control which it took just to keep the two seals in such close proximity to one another without them interacting was mountainous. They'd only been at it for half an hour or so, and Sakura was already flagging. Though Kakashi would never admit it, the chakra control was taxing for him as well, especially with his sharingan active to keep an eye on both seals at once.

"Tell me when you want to start moving outwards." Sakura murmured, her voice carrying easily across the distance as the sound bounced off the hard surfaces of the cave. Kakashi nodded, before realising that her eyes were trained on her own hands.

"Now." he called instead. As one, they began to take slow steps backwards, expanding the size of the seal until they each stood with their backs to the cave walls, facing one another directly.

"Okay, now we'll just lower it down carefully," Kakashi said, "Until the edges reach the floor, and hopefully it will be strong enough to overlap the other seal without interacting with it. Ready?"

"Ready." Sakura replied.

They began to move into a crouch, bringing their hands down with them as their seal neared the ground.

"And just let it touch the ground, and then fix-"

The purple seal flashed a blinding white, and Sakura gave a sudden yelp of pain as the flow of chakra between her and the seal snapped. Distantly, she heard Kakashi grunt in pain as well, before her vision blacked out and she found herself on the ground. The deep muscular ache which came with rapid chakra depletion set in almost instantly. She gritted her teeth. _What went wrong?_ she wondered.

After a few seconds, she found she could see again, and pulled herself up into a sitting position. The ache in her muscles remained.

"What the fuck was that?" she asked, climbing unsteadily to her feet. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, pulling himself to his feet as well.

"The seal failed." he said. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I hadn't noticed." she sassed, fighting to hide the slight tremble in her voice which often came with chakra exhaustion for her. Kakashi shook his head wearily.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded.

"Suddenly very low on chakra, but other than that I'm fine. Are you okay?" she moved across to him, instinctively gathering medical chakra in her right hand. As the green glow began to light up in her palm, she gasped and winced again, quickly releasing the chakra.

"Shit. Forgot already. No chakra." she muttered to herself. "Can we go outside?" Kakashi nodded, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her arm over his shoulder. She flashed him a surprised glance but accepted his help nevertheless. They made their way unsteadily from the cave, leaning on one another in turn. It was a relief when they finally found themselves above ground. Kakashi noted with some surprise that the sun was already beginning to set. _How long were we actually down there for?_ he wondered. _It didn't seem like that long._

They lowered themselves to the ground almost immediately. Sakura crawled to the tree which Yamato had been propped up against only hours before, leaning back against it.

"That was weird." she noted after a minute. Kakashi hummed his agreement. "And painful." she added with a sigh.

* * *

By the time Yamato and the younger Kakashi found them, the sun had almost disappeared. Yamato took over immediately, crouching first by Sakura, who briefly explained why they were on the floor, and then by Kakashi, at Sakura's directive to "check the idiot's pulse".

Yamato shook his head in exasperation at the two of them.

"Here." he pulled several soldier pills from his hip pouch, handing one each to either incapacitated shinobi. "Eat a couple of these, at least you'll get your chakra back." Sakura accepted the pill gratefully, swallowing it without chewing. The effects were almost instantaneous. She felt the warm tinge of chakra returning to her system. After several minutes, the ache in her muscles eased up until she could stand again. She moved straight to Kakashi's side, who was still lying, unmoving, on the ground. With a sigh, she pulled down his mask, pushing the pill into his mouth in one swift movement.

"Swallow." she directed. Kakashi complied, and Sakura let out a tiny sigh of relief. Yamato cleared his throat.

"While you two were sealing, we were met by a messenger." he interrupted their silent exchange. "Tsunade sent someone to tell us that Jiraiya will be meeting us here at dawn, so we have to camp out here instead of returning to the village." Sakura turned to him with a tired smile.

"It's getting dark already." the younger Hatake commented. "We should start a fire while we still have some light." Sakura nodded her assent.

"Let Kakashi recover for a minute." she instructed, swallowing another soldier pill as she climbed to her feet. "I'll go find some firewood."

She wandered off into the trees, the last of the earlier dizziness fading from her head. Yamato glanced after her in consternation.

"You go with her." he ordered the younger Kakashi, inclining his head in her direction. "I'll do one final run of the perimeter." Yamato knew that in the outer forests of Konoha, the group would be relatively safe - but, he reasoned, since Kakashi-senpai was out for the time being, he would have to take the role of team captain while he recovered. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen on his watch. Naruto had already sullied his reputation enough times with his disappearing acts, and Yamato was not interested in seeing a repeat of his senpai's disappointed expression.

* * *

Kakashi fell into step beside Sakura as she made her way from tree to try, picking up the small branches and sticks which littered the ground beneath the boughs. He absently began to pick up his own pile of sticks, keeping Sakura in his peripheral vision. She seemed to be recovered, but the fact that his older self was still lying on the ground indicated that she probably wasn't quite as recovered as she made out.

"Sakura-"

"Kakashi-"

Both began at the same time. Sakura smiled, gesturing for him to talk first.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened the other night." he apologised, voice low. "I didn't think through how that might affect you in this time, and-"

"It's okay. I wanted to as well. No hard feelings, right?" she offered.

"Well, speaking of hard feel- never mind." he cut off quickly at the sight of her raised eyebrow. _Stop trying to flirt, idiot,_ he reminded himself.

"Thank you, Kakashi." She sent him a warm smile. Kakashi didn't reply, concentrating instead on gathering up the firewood and ignoring the insistent stutter of his heartbeat. They worked together in silence until they had picked up enough firewood for a long-lasting fire. It was well and truly dark by the time they turned back towards the campsite. Though they didn't speak, the atmosphere between them was decidedly warmer and less tense.

They re-entered the campsite to the sight of Kakashi spreading out blankets in a circle, while Yamato skinned a rabbit which he must have caught in their absence. Kakashi met Sakura's eyes as she sat down, handing the firewood to him to start the fire, as was their custom on missions. Their fingers brushed, and Kakashi gave a tiny smile beneath his mask.


End file.
